Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1039781
SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY CUP MONSTER ENERGY CUP / OCTOBER 13, 2018 SAM BOYD STADIUM / LAS VEGAS, NEVADA P66 iii My Own Race: 2RV RYAN VILLOPOTO 13TH (12-11-13) Retired legend and former Monster Energy Cup million-dollar winner Ryan Villopoto was in the mix of it throughout the night at the Monster Energy Cup. "Everything was good," Villopoto said. "It was really fun to be here racing the Monster Energy Cup. The track was tricky in that there was nothing to really separate a whole lot of us. All in all, the fans had a great time and I think they all loved me being back out there. Sure, I would have loved to do a little bit better but what more could I ask for with three weeks on the bike?" 51 JUSTIN BARCIA 4TH (5-6-2) Justin Barcia (Monster Energy Yamaha) was fast all day, but he was relegated to fourth overall after he fell in the first turn in the final main event and ended up a still-solid sev- enth place in that race. "Coming into the weekend, I only had a couple days of riding supercross and getting back into it, so I felt okay in practice, but a little tight," said Bar- cia who competed in the Motocross of Nations just a few days earlier and had little time to get ready for supercross-style racing. "In the main events, I never had great starts, unfortunately. I struggled with that a little bit but there are a lot of positives to take out of today with the little bit of time we had to get ready. We had really good bike—our setup was awesome—so that makes me happy going into the Supercross season. My fitness felt awesome, too, so I would say that where I was at this time last year, to this year, is really positive." 21 JASON ANDERSON 2ND (3-5-4) Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) had a consistent night, with a 3-5-4 score landing him second overall. The fifth place in the second main event came after his bike quit on the starting line and he got going dead last. "I got second last year and I won the [2018 AMA Supercross] championship," Anderson said. "So, just like last year, I'm hoping to make most of my money in May. We'll see if I can pull that off again. Eli is going to be a beast to battle all year but I'm going to prepare myself as much as possible and do all I can do to be the best me. We'll see how it goes." 17 JOEY SAVATGY 3RD (5-6-2) Joey Savatgy made a solid 450cc debut for his new Monster Energy Kawasaki team, grabbing third overall after leading almost the entire final main event of the night. As his teammate, Eli Tomac, caught him on the final lap of the third main, Savatgy pulled over and let him by to help Tomac get the Monster Million. "I was honestly uncom- fortable all day in the sand, especially in the sand leaving the stadium," Savatgy said. "For whatever reason, I guess I'm not comfortable with just 'letting it eat.' But we were able to clean up the sand coming back in and just really found a flow that last moto. Got a little bit of breathing room and was just clicking off laps. It felt amazing, so I'm stoked." Neither Savatgy nor Tomac would elaborate on the last lap, more specifically when Savatgy moved over to let Tomac pass. 2 COOPER WEBB 12TH (6-19-9) Cooper Webb made his Red Bull KTM debut and it started off pretty well with a solid sixth place, but a first-turn crash left Webb way behind in the second main, and a poor start in the final main relegated him to 12th overall. "It was an up and down weekend with me," Webb said. "It was the first race with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team so we were just getting used to everything and taking it more as a test. I hadn't had a lot of time on the bike so I wanted to do a race with the team and see how they work and operate in a race-day scenario, so it was good to do that. The first main event, I didn't get the greatest start, made a few passes and came to sixth, which was okay. The second race, I got into a pretty big crash on the start, there was a rider that hit a hay bale right off the start in the sand rollers and a couple of us got into a pretty big pile up, so I was down for a while and had to get my bike off another rider's bike, it was a little